Three-month-old Nathaniel Corso may be the tiniest patient to participate in the best tradition in college sports.
Nathaniel, from Washington, Iowa, was in the stabilization room in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital during the Iowa-Wisconsin football game on Nov. 2. It was a night game and, as is Hawkeye Wave tradition, the crowd turned on their cell phone flashlights at the end of the first quarter and waved to the pediatric patients and their families.
Then-6-week-old Nathaniel seemingly turned to the crowd, lifted his arm, and waved back.
“You can see the people in the stadium turning on their flashlights and waving, and then baby Nathaniel starts to move his arm like he’s waving, too!” says his mom, Amanda Corso.
Nathaniel was born 17 weeks premature. Amanda’s water broke when she was a little more than 21 weeks pregnant, a condition known as preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM). She was admitted to UI Health Care Medical Center—University Campus, and Nathaniel was born 11 days later, on Sept. 16.
“If it wasn’t for the hemodynamics team and their technology, Nathaniel wouldn’t be here today,” Amanda says.
